A worried patriot writes ....

[cloughie]

Or, "Born to suck seed" as an ex-girlfriend once put it.

Only parrots do that!

[greenilex]

We have foreigners on the other bank of the Itchen, very strange they are, soon as you cross you’ll see the difference...

[Once Was 4]

Dear Sir

I REALLY think it's time that the unpatriotic, left-leaning management of the BBC took Mr Andrew Marr in hand. YET AGAIN he's allowed an attractive, intelligent FOREIGN politician to explain clearly - in excellent English - the consequences of our departure from the EU. I'm beginning - together with some of my friends here in Little-England-By-The-Sea - to wonder whether he's trying to undermine the sterling work of our heroic Home Secretary.

Nice one!

However, in the most respectful way possible I must offer a note of, not exactly caution, but more - well - slight worry.

Being a Northern remainer who has spent most of his working life playing in orchestras and also doing some teaching I now find myself spending a lot of time in semi-retirement working for a large railway support group which uses a lot of volunteer labour. This teaches me that I have lived in a bit of a bubble; the occupants of this bubble are remainers. see Brexit as a disaster, love the BBC etc. A majority of the volunteers and professional railway people that I encounter (and, with the latter, the largest of their trade unions who are quite aggressive in the matter) see things very differently indeed. The attitude of much of the BBC coverage (Brexiteers are a load of thick racists etc.,) has hardened attitudes in a way that most of us in this discussion will certainly not like. I am afraid most of these people to whom I refer are neither thick nor racists. There is also a big difference between patriotism and jingoism. The BBC is in grave danger but it must change to survive and I am afraid it is not helping itself at the moment.

I am sure that people are now foaming at the mouth and getting ready to shoot me down.

I will console myself with another chuckle at the post which started this thread.

[MrGongGong]

You don't have to be a "thick racist" to vote for one and hand power over to those that are
Sad times indeed

[LeMartinPecheur]

We have foreigners on the other bank of the Itchen, very strange they are, soon as you cross you’ll see the difference...

Same here in Cornwall but we don't even need a river to create a boundary: 'settlements' only a few miles apart will say of each other, "They still eat their children there!"

Come to think of it, better check whether cloughie still does...

...though like me, he isn't proper-Cornish

[agingjb]

Other side of the Itchen? Cross the Test and it's the New Forest and the Celtic fringe (with their own excellent cultures, let me say). It's only the really damp bits of the flood plains, and some rocky moorland that, temporarily, stop building houses all the way to Lands End (and beyond).

[LMcD]

Dear Mr LMcD,
We in Little-England-by-the-Sea would never apply epithets like 'attractive' or' intelligent' to FOREIGN politicians, nor describe them as speaking 'excellent' English. These are obvious contradictions in terms, and you are clearly yourself FOREIGN.
Yours sincerely.

My paternal grandfather was born in what was then part of the British Empire and is now part of Eire, so possibly you're right. I've long believed - in a non-patronising way - that there are a goodly number of non-Brits who speak better English than many inhabitants of this Sceptred Isle.

[cloughie]

Same here in Cornwall but we don't even need a river to create a boundary: 'settlements' only a few miles apart will say of each other, "They still eat their children there!"

Come to think of it, better check whether cloughie still does...

...though like me, he isn't proper-Cornish

No, but over the Tamar there are people who do very strange things with scones, jam and cream! ...and March 5th is just another day to them - very strange people!

[LeMartinPecheur]

No, but over the Tamar there are people who do very strange things with scones, jam and cream! ...and March 5th is just another day to them - very strange people!

Re scones, not only beyond the Tamar - up here close to the border there are issues within, ahem, mixed marriages

I would assume it's automatic grounds for divorce if not speedily corrected

[LeMartinPecheur]

My paternal grandfather was born in what was then part of the British Empire and is now part of Eire, so possibly you're right. I've long believed - in a non-patronising way - that there are a goodly number of non-Brits who speak better English than many inhabitants of this Sceptred Isle.

[Dave2002]

No, but over the Tamar there are people who do very strange things with scones, jam and cream! ...and March 5th is just another day to them - very strange people!

Useful information source - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_5